1 Kings 16:24

Built on the hill. — Omri only followed the usual practice of a new dynasty in the East, of which Jeroboam had set an example at Shechem, and probably Baasha at Tirzah. Possibly the seeds of disaffection may have still lurked in Tirzah, the place of Zimri’s conspiracy, and (as has been conjectured) of Tibni’s rival power. But the site of Samaria must have been chosen by a soldier’s eye. Its Hebrew name (Shomerôn) means a “watch-tower,” and may well have had a double derivation, from its natural position, as well as from its owner’s name. Its position was one of great beauty, and, in the warfare of those days, of singular strength, as is shown by the long sieges which it withstood (1 Kings 20:1; 2 Kings 6:24; 2 Kings 17:5; 2 Kings 18:9). It lay north-west of Shechem, on an isolated hill with precipitous sides, rising in the middle of a basin of the hills of Ephraim, not far from the edge of the maritime plain, and commanding a view of the sea. Its history vindicated the sagacity of its founder. Even after its destruction and depopulation by the Assyrians, it seems to have revived, for Alexander took it on his invasion of Palestine, and placed a Greek colony there. Again destroyed by John Hyrcanus, it was rebuilt by Herod, and called Sebaste, in honour of Augustus. In the Assyrian inscriptions it is known as Beth-Khumri (“the house of Omri”).